Two months following the committal of Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case before a CBI sessions court,suspended IPS officer D G Vanzara was produced before a wrong court by the authorities of the Sabarmati Central Jail. This happened not just once,but several times. The accused persons,presently under judicial custody,have to be produced before an appropriate court on every 14th day,which is known as regular production. The jail authority realised their mistake after at least four dates of wrongful production. Sources said that Vanzara was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM),CBI,H S Khutwad till last week even after the case was committed for trial before special CBI judge (sessions) Gita Gopi on August 27. Sources said that the last time when jail official produced Vanzara before the ACJM,he informed the officials not to bring Vanzara before him as the case had been shifted to sessions court. Following this,jail officials approached the sessions judge who wrote back four days ago to produce Vanzara before her on October 30.

Sardar vs Patel

Besides announcing the October 31 event,where Narendra Modi would be laying the foundation stone for the Statue of Unity,the CMs portal played Tuesdays inauguration of the Sardar Patel museum at Shahibaug live. The museum has been renovated by a body headed by Union minister and Congress MP Dinsha Patel. The portal also posted live tweets from the speeches of Modi,Dinsha Patel and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. When Modi quoted 1919 as the year of Sardar Patels resolution in the Ahmedabad Municipality about reservation for women,Dinsha Patel corrected him,saying the resolution was passed in 1926. And this also went live.

Interestingly,the English press release on Modis speech at the event,issued by the Gujarat Information department,played safe and did not mention the year of the resolution. It did refer to the Modi quote on Sardar Patel moving the resolution for womens reservation,though. However,as soon as Dinsha Patels speech went public,a news portal that openly supports Modi,posted a page from history,claiming Modi to be right. Its headline read: Dinsha Patel tried to be oversmart by correcting Modi….

The news portal quoted a book written by Ahmedabad-based Dr Rizwan Kadri,who has done his doctoral research on Sardar Patels life and work,to debunk Dinsha Patel. It also posted a copy of a page claiming to be from the original municipal records belonging to 1919 to support its claim.

Cleanliness cue

Chief Minister and BJPs prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi seems to be determined that the nation should observe the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by carrying out cleanliness and sanitation drive. He had made this suggestion for the first time at the National Summit on Inclusive Urban Development last week. He made the same suggestion to the 14th Finance Commission team. Modi suggested that a national sanitation and cleanliness drive be launched,keeping in view Mahatma Gandhis 150th birth anniversary celebration in 2019.

Political condolence

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) general board meet,that saw deputy mayor R D Desai retain his post,saw four condolence motions being passed. This included a resolution for the 115 devotees killed in a stampede in Datia (MP),death of former municipal councillor Indumati Kantilal Yagnik and playback singer Manna Dey. The last resolution,however,was the longest as it was loaded with political speeches condemning the death of seven persons in the serial blasts at Modis rally in Patna.